MC CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

Monday, April 4, 2016

Spring vacation in Japan!!!! (February)

The whole month of February I was in South Korea with my friend Sulecca!!!

We spent the first week in Seoul taking pictures of EVERTHING!!!!! We even met some of our friends that we made while in Japan!!! We met our friend Seobin in Gangmun and she showed us the tribute to the song!!! (of course we had to dance there) Then we were able to meet our friend Seolyul and had Korean style Chinese food and Korean ice cream!! Every day was super packed, we had a million places we want to see and so many things to do. We'd get up early, be out all day, come back around the last train, stay up late to map out the next day. Even though, it was exhausting, it was too great we couldn't miss our opportunity!!

We left Seoul and headed to Ansan! Everyone always asked why we went to Ansan, because it's supposedly the bad part of Korea. But we HAD to go because!!!!

Heejun!!!!! He picked us up from the train station and spent a few days with us!!! He said he wouldn't visit or spend time with us (such a lie)!!! We had multiple meals together, went shopping, took purikura in Korea, went to a game center, went to karaoke, had icecream, and even spent Valentines Day as a lovely family of 3!

I thought leaving would be hard but actually, he was returning to Japan about the same time we were!! Of course, we'll meet again!!!

On the the next stop!!! Train bound for Daejeon!! Two of the sweetest girls to meet!!!

I first met Gyuri at the train station! After 2 years!! We we're both unbelievably happy!!! We left to shop around for a little, then we met with her boyfriend who took us to our hotel. After resting a little, we went out for dinner and drinking, we had soooo much to talk about (2 years of life to go through)!!! After dinner, it was time to do karaoke in another language!!! (that's just what we do)!!!
The next day I met with Chorong!!!! It had been a year since the last time we met!!! She introduced me to two of her friends. The five of us went to lunch, explored the city, and went club bowling and pool (Korean original activity)!! It was so much fun meeting them both in Korea, but I didn't have much time in Daejeon. I was only there for about four days! (Four AMAZING days!)

After saying good-bye Sulecca and I headed off to another city to tour around. We didn't know much about the city, but we didn't care what it was like! We were both happy being in Korea. We visited many cities, and there's so much to see and do! One of my favorites was our adventure to Jiju Island!! We went to Love Land, Alive museum, Kpop museum, a few water falls, the beach, made new friends, and got lost trying to use the buses (because no train!!)

Next stop was Busan!!!!! There were two more lovely ladies to meet!!!

After being in Busan for a few day, I first got to meet Min!!! I had already done the main site seeing so she took us shopping and told us how to get to two really famous beaches. We planned to meet again after she was done with work!

Before I arrived at the train station to meet her she said she had a surprise for me! Yoni had told me she was busy the day Min was free, but the day Min worked Yoni said she was free. I wasn't expecting to meet them both at the same time. So when I arrived at the station, I saw Min and asked about my surprise. Min said I would have to wait because the train wasn't here yet! Jokingly I asked if she got me a person and when she said yes I was even more confused. As we were talking and waiting, Min stopped me in mid sentence and told me to look the other direction. At first Yoni was too far I didn't know who it was, but when she waved and said my name I had to run and go hug her!!! It had been about half a year since we last met but it felt like just the other day we were all at Maryville laughing at dinner!!! After site seeing and exploring a few more days Min and Yoni met me at the train station and said good-bye.

It was time to go back to Seoul for our last week in Korea!!! We did the site seeing spots we missed the first time we were in Seoul. And we even planned for a small Maryville reunion!! Gyuri, Jin-eon, Ariel, and I all made time to meet for dinner a few days before I had to go back to Japan!!

The last night I was there I had to go back to my favorite site seeing spot!! Namsan Tower!!! It was soooo BEAUTIFUL!!! It snowed the whole last day and it felt like a dream!!! It wasn't really time to go was it...

When I returned back to Japan I was both happy and sad. Happy to be back at my second home with friends that became family. Yet, sad because I had to leave the friends that were already family.